Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) President Sardar Akhtar Mengal on Friday said he is ready to join the opposition if it accepted his party's demands. Speaking at a press conference here, after meeting with a delegation of senior PPP leaders, who had met him and invited him to join the opposition benches, he said that he would join the opposition if his party's demands are met.
The PPP delegation was comprised of Khursheed Shah, former prime minister Pervez Ashraf, Nayyar Hussain Bukhari, Syed Naveed Qamar, Farhatullah Babar and Agha Rafi. Mengal regretted that PTI government had not made any progress towards addressing any outstanding demands he had put forth before join the government back in 2018. "We are ready to join the opposition if it accepts our conditions," he said.
"We had not made any demand of any ministry or other benefits for becoming part of coalition government of PTI. But we only sought action on our demands," Mengal said. He said that the two parties had talked in detail during the meeting. He said that the nation's problems would not be resolved until democratic institutions are strengthened.
Mengal said that another meeting with PPP would be held in next few days. "Our demands are not hidden. Our demands are for the development of Balochistan. We have put forth six points before the government but no action has been taken so far. " Mengal said that he put the same six points before the PPP and will be deliberated with other opposition parties as well.
"Our issue is Balochistan and not voting for the budget. We will not be able to remain with the government if political issues are not resolved," he waned the government.
Earlier on Wednesday, the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) had constituted a three-member committee to oversee the implementation of the six-point agreement reached with the BNP-M at the time of the formation of the federal government in August last year after the latter's covert threat to abstain from a vote on the federal budget.
The six points included recovery of missing persons, implementation of the National Action Plan, implementation of six per cent quota for Balochistan in the federal government, immediate repatriation of Afghan refugees and the construction of dams in the province to resolve the acute water crisis.
The six-point memorandum of understanding had been signed by the representatives of the two parties after a marathon session between Mengal and PTI vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi after which the BNP had agreed to support PTI candidates for the positions of prime minister and speaker and deputy speaker of the National Assembly after last year's elections.